


Now and Then

by Fandom_Overload7890



Category: Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard
Genre: Calore brothers feels, Calore brothers reunion, Fighting, Gen, M/M, Oneshot, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-27 14:33:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14427531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandom_Overload7890/pseuds/Fandom_Overload7890
Summary: "Please Mavey"Cal says those words in so many ways.





	Now and Then

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a little one-shot while I edit the last chapter of DLAW! This is also posted on my Tumblr, but I thought I would post it here too!

_ Oh no.  _

His whole side was raw and red, the flesh torn and he could see blooding rushing to meet the open air against his wound. The parts of his shirt that weren’t burnt off were stuck to his charred skin; he could feel the bits of cloth sting as they rubbed against him. Maven had been practicing his fighting since he’d been gone. Cal didn’t think he had had the time. 

They had been fighting already for so long. The minutes stretched by like hours, every second one more than Cal wanted to spend fighting his brother. They danced around each other, neither one itching to get to close to the other. Cal sent another blast of fire to make sure Maven kept his distance. Putting up his arm to do that felt like so much work, it was like his arms were made of weights. But he had to keep moving if he didn’t want to do that again, so he turned his sluggish legs and climbed the crumbling steps behind him. It took so much energy to do that, but now Cal had the higher ground. He had the advantage.

Maven followed him. By some incredible feat, he looked worse than Cal. His skin was translucent, and pulled tight against his bones. Despite all the abundant food at the palace, Maven hadn’t been eating. Cal recalled a time when after Maven got back from the front he would regularly throw up, so sick with what he had experienced that he could keep no food down. The same thing was probably happening now. His eyes were erratic, both irritated by the smoke and ash from their firestorm and from what seemed to be lack of sleep. They carried an intensity that made Cal’s chest ache. What had his brother suffered that caused him to look so crazed?  _ No, don’t think like that _ .  _ He’s a murderer.  _ Right. He kept forgetting that, but he didn’t have the luxury to.  

“Running away brother? You never were one to run from a fight. Least of all, one from me.” Maven tilted his head as he spoke, his eyes sharpening like a predator hunting prey. Cal felt his back hit the wall and spared a look behind him to find the next step up. His feet ached as he took another step up. His leg shook with the effort of standing. He couldn’t go on for much longer. The smoke was making it harder to breathe. He might be fireproof, but smoke inhalation was its own killer. If one of them didn’t win soon, the combination of smoke from the battle around them and their own personal cloud might kill him.

He kept climbing. 

“I always knew you weren’t much for words, but this is new,” Maven seemed frustrated, but Cal wasn’t going to respond. He didn’t have the energy. Or the words. What do you say to your brother who’s trying to kill you? Did those words even exist? 

Maven turned the corner. He was moving faster than Cal and would soon catch up to him. Cal shot another blast of fire and Maven took a step back. Good. Cal needed the extra four steps. 

So far Cal had been lucky, but now it had run out. He raised his left foot to go up  _ just one more stair _ , but his bones were made of concrete, his muscles pulled him down to the ground. His foot reached for the top of the stair, but only made it half way before coming down. Cal tripped, falling back onto the hard, rock staircase. The edges of the stairs made stripped bruises on his back. Cal scrambled backwards, trying to put more space between him and his brother. Too bad Maven didn’t seen half as exhausted as Cal. He had no problem catching up. 

He stood over Cal, his long, thin fingers were curled above him. Cal could feel the heat radiating off of them.

“Any last words,  _ brother _ ,” Maven asked in a mocking tone.

Cal would like to say that he said something cool. Something witty. That in his last moments he could pretend to match Maven’s mountains of intellect. 

Instead, he croaked out, “Please, Mavey.”

* * *

 

“Please, Mavey?” 

“No.” 

“ _ Please? _ ” 

“Cal, I’m not doing it.” Cal let out an over dramatic sigh and slouched his posture past what would normally be allowed. He asked Maven to do  _ one  _ thing for him and that was too much? 

“Fineee, if that’s how you want to be.” Cal hoped down the stairs, his feet a little sore of all of the standing and dancing he had done tonight. A large party had been thrown to commemorate what a special week this was. Everybody who was anybody was there, meaning that Cal had to endure the military talk of the older, more distinguished members of court and their military counterparts, the political chatter of the High Houses, and the fawning of the girls, all vying to get on his good side before the Queenstrial. Cal had danced with so many girls tonight that they were all out of luck in winning his favor because he could barely remember any of them. 

Maven chuckled. “Oh woe is you. How hard it must be to be so handsome and beloved that all the girls want to dance with you.” 

“And my little brother won’t help me by taking my place for just one dance.” 

“Ugh, don’t call me that.” Cal laughed. He swung his arm around Maven and pulled him into a headlock, giving him a noogie. 

“What? You  _ are  _ my little brother!” Maven started to fight him, pushing against Cal’s chest to get out of the headlock. Cal only laughed harder and kept it up. Maven had never been able to get out of one of these, and Cal had no intent of letting him go yet. He was Maven’s big brother, it was his job to give him a little trouble. 

“Cal! Get off of me! Cal- _ Cal! _ ” 

Cal let Maven go, surprised at the tone in his voice, going from a little annoyed to serious in a heartbeat. Maven had never reacted like that when Cal had horsed around in the past. It was like having ice water poured all over him. Where had that kind of mood swing come from? 

Maven brushed himself off, fixing his hair and readjusting his suit jacket. Cal noticed how think he’d become. Had he’d been eating? 

Then, he resumed his place on the balcony where Cal had found him, back turned to Cal and head tilted up, looking at the few stars that managed to be seen through all the light pollution. 

Cal hesitantly made his way over to stand next to Maven. “You okay?” 

“Yeah, it’s just,” Maven seemed to collect himself and mature a few years. “After going to the front, it’s hard to mess around or attend a party when you know so much bad is going on.” 

“What? The big party in honor of your return didn’t boost your mood?” One look at Mavens face made Cal realize how poorly timed the joke was. “Look, I get it. You spend so much time seeing death and pain, it’s hard to come back here and talk to people who think seeing that is some big honor, when really, it just makes you sick inside. But moping around about it isn’t going to fix anything. You gotta get in there, talk to Father, tell him what you saw so you can fix all that bad that’s happening down there. You’re good with words; you could do that.” 

For a moment while Cal was talking, an almost bitter look passed over Maven’s face, but it was probably because Cal and Maven were never really ones to have heart to hearts. 

“Yes, but it’s not just that,” he spoke slowly, like he was carefully choosing his words. “Did you meet anybody down at the front?” 

“Yeah, tons of people. Why?” 

“No, not like that. I’m not talking about generals or soldiers, I mean someone you really hit it off with?” 

“I was really close with my troop. Why? Did you make a friend down there?” 

“Something like that.” 

“Ooo, Maven made a friend!” Cal couldn’t believe it. Maven never had any friends. Not that Cal did either, but that was because he had so many responsibilities it was impossible. Maven had always just been on the fringes, having a hard time connecting with others. Cal felt a surge of pride that his brother had finally found someone to spend time with. 

“No! Not a-” 

“Tiberias. Maven.”  _ Great.  _ “What are you two doing out here? Maven, why are you not at your celebration?” Elara looked directly into Maven’s eyes, most likely following up on that question in Maven’s head rather than out loud. Cal hated when she did that. 

“Sorry Mother. Cal and I were just taking a breath of fresh air.” Maven’s face changed. Any sliver of emotion Cal saw before was gone. He’d slammed the door shut as soon as his mother appeared. “Cal, let’s go rejoin the party.” 

Maven marched up the stairs, walking back towards the door that lead them back inside. He fell into step with Elara, leaving Cal to take the rear. Going back to that party left a bitter taste in Cal’s mouth. All he wanted to do was go to his garage and work on his cycle. But a crown prince had to do his duty. And so, Cal went back into the belly of the beast with one thought on his mind: 

_ Oh no.  _

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a kudos/comment if you liked it! I live off of feedback! Even better, feel free to message or shoot me an ask at my Tumblr @caven---malore !!!


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